1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to article holders and, more specifically, to holders for solid, brittle articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Holders have been devised to receive and contain a variety of articles in order to protect such articles from damage, external forces or changes due to environmental effects. Holders or containers have also been devised to protect brittle articles, i.e., bottles or other objects made from glass, from breakage if accidentally dropped or subjected to external forces.
However, holders for string instrument rosin bars or cakes have not been previously devised which are capable of preventing damage or breakage of the brittle bar when the bar is accidentally dropped or struck. Rosin bars or cakes are used on the bowhairs of certain types of string instruments, such as violins, cellos and violas, by drawing the bowhair across the bar.
Rectangular-shaped rosin bars are typically available in an open-ended three-sided container made of wood. Such containers enable the bar to be used without the user having to touch the bar itself. However, the wood containers provide no protection for the brittle bar if the bar is accidentally dropped or struck. Circular-shaped rosin bars and cakes are typically sold in a cloth or leather covering which, again, provides no shock protection for the brittle rosin bar or cake.
Since rosin bars are only available in containers which provide little shock protection for the brittle bars, the bars are easily and frequently shattered into numerous unusable pieces or cracked into several large pieces which will fall out of the container in a short time and could cause damage to the bowhair of the string instrument. Presently available containers for rosin bars also have several other drawbacks. The three-sided, open-ended container does not provide any guide for drawing the bowhair across the bar particularly when the bar is new and its top surface is flush with the upper sides of the container. When the rosin bar is new, it is possible for the bowhair to catch in the crack between the side edge of the rosin bar and the upper side of the container which could easily break or damage the bowhair of the string instrument. In those rosin bars which are sold without any container at all, there is no guide for the bowhair as it is drawn across the bar such that the bowhair could strike the fingers of the user or slip off of the rosin bar altogether unless extreme care is exerted by the user.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a holder for brittle articles which protects such articles from inadvertent damage or breakage. It would also be desirable to provide an article holder which enables easy insertion and removal of the article therefrom. It would also be desirable to provide an article holder which is inexpensive to manufacture.
It would further be desirable to provide an article holder for use with string instrument rosin bars which enables such bar to be used while in the holder and which holder provides shock absorbing protection for the brittle rosin bars.